Zoom on... DPR Korea, queen of consistency

A few days before the beggining of the second edition of the Sud Ladies Cup, from 8th to 18th May, here is an overview of the six participating squads. Ones are favourites, others are underdogs, but all will have the same goal : do their best and finish as high as possible. Today, zoom on DPR Korea.

Surely one of the best teams in Asia. Especially at youth level. For their first participation in the Sud Ladies Cup, DPR Korea travel to the South of France with the statuts of favourite.

The results are outstanding : since the foundation of the Asian Championship U19, in 2002, DPR Korea always reached the semi-finals at least, having even won the competition in 2007 against the reference in Asian women football : Japan.

On the world stage, the performances are even more impressive as DPR Korea lifted the World Cup U20 trophy twice : in 2006 first, thanks to an incredible display : after they won their first group games without conceding a goal, they successively knocked-out France in quarter-final and Brazil in semi-final, and defeated China in final. They repeated it ten years later, in 2016, by winning their three group games and beating Spain, United States and France.

DPR Koreans after their world triumph (credits : Getty Images)

When they don’t win the World Cup, DPR Koreans produce often good performances like illustrated by their run at the World Cup U20 last summer as they reached the quarter-finals. Several players who shone at the World Cup U20 in 2018 will take part in the Sud Ladies Cup 2019 : we think about the promising teenagers Kim Kyong-Yong and Ri Kum-Hyang, both aged 17 only !

DPR Korean will undoubtedly one of the squads to follow during the Sud Ladies Cup. Promising !